


A Learning Curve

by PalestAzure



Series: Ethan Ramsey, Dad Extraordinaire [5]
Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Interracial Relationship, Multiculturalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalestAzure/pseuds/PalestAzure
Summary: When Zyra isn’t feeling well, Ethan has to take over his daughter’s entire morning routine by himself.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart)
Series: Ethan Ramsey, Dad Extraordinaire [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815364
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	A Learning Curve

There was some mild cursing as Ethan tried spreading some grape jam onto a slice of bread. The jam wasn’t smooth, but thick and chunky, which caused some difficulty in preparing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He made a mental note to pick up a better brand of jam at his next store run. 

But his frustration wasn’t truly related to the jam. 

He cut the sandwich in fours, put the sandwich in a Ziploc bag, and placed it in a metal lunch box with some animal character design, all the while still muttering some profanity. 

“Oooooh, daddy, you said some bad words.”

Ethan’s seven-year-old daughter was watching him next to the counter. Her little head peeked from behind the corner. Her matching blue eyes were wide and full of surprise, but her mouth was turned upward, expressing more amusement than shock.

“I’m gonna go tell mommy!”

She giggled and began running away, but Ethan quickly caught up to her and picked her up in his arms.

“Jocelyn Dolores Ramsey, now where are you going?”

He peppered her little face with kisses, his facial hair tickling her baby soft skin. But it was her innocent laughter that made his heart swell and his expression to beam. And for that moment, his feelings of frustration--and anger--dissipated.

She was just like her mother. They both loved teasing him. 

Her small arms wrapped around his neck, and she hugged him. He felt the softness of her large, thick fro against his face, and he leaned his head into it and closed his eyes. He held her against him, returning her hug while gently rubbing her back. But holding his daughter in his arms and feeling her life from her breath beating against his neck, led him to more somber thoughts. 

“Can you do my hair for me, daddy?” She asked in a quiet, timid tone.

“Where’s your mother? Isn’t she going to do it for you?”

“She said to ask you. She said she had to potty.”

Ethan looked back towards the hallway to the bedrooms and frowned. He knew the true meaning behind his wife’s words to their daughter. 

He kissed Jocelyn’s forehead before he placed her back down on the floor. Ethan stared down and observed the massive fro of hair on his daughter’s head. She got her mother’s hair, and it was not something he had ever learned how to do. It appeared he had to start learning somehow, and today would be the day. And if things changed, he would have no choice but to teach himself until she would be old enough to do it herself. 

His eyes moved from her hair to something that was a little more obvious now. Her shirt tag was sticking out from her collar. But from the front.

Ethan chuckled and gently flicked the tag with his finger. “Remember, this goes in the back. Lift your arms, Joss.” 

Joss followed suit, as her daddy lifted her shirt off and put it back on her in the correct way. 

“Now you’re almost ready for school. Lead the way.”

He followed Joss to the bathroom and observed her pull out a basket from the cabinet under the sink. Ethan rushed over to help her. He took the basket and placed it on the counter. Inside the basket, he saw a variety of things that he’d seen Zyra use before. A spray bottle full of water. Different types of combs and brushes. Leave-in conditioner. Gel. Elastic hair ties. A toothbrush. Edge control. 

He let out a long, nervous sigh. 

“You OK, daddy?” He felt Joss tug on his jeans. 

“Yes, honey.” He looked down at her and smiled. He then brought her stool so she could stand at the sink and help guide him on her hair process. Plus, the stool gave her more of a height advantage so he wouldn’t have to bend over all the time.

“OK, what does mommy do first?”

“Well, I want my two puffs,” Joss said, smiling at him through the mirror. 

“Puffs? Right.” 

He knew what those were. He had seen Zyra do them many times, especially when Joss was much younger. He mentally tried to recall what he remembered from observing his wife’s expertise at doing their daughter’s kinky curls.

“Take that, daddy.” Joss pointed to the spray bottle, which Ethan picked up.

“What’s this for?”

Joss shrugged. “I don’t know. Just wet my hair.”

His daughter was watching his every move through the mirror, so he decided to play with her a bit. He sprayed the water into his face. 

“Oh!” He feigned a surprise.

“Not like that, daddy!” Joss giggled. “On my hair.”

Ethan grabbed a face towel and wiped his face. 

“Did I get it all?”

Joss turned around and shook her head. Ethan bent down so his face was close to hers. She then began wiping his forehead with her pint-sized hands. When she finished, she kissed the tip of his nose, but then continued her charming giggling.

“All right, goofball, let’s get this done so that you’re not late for school. I’m sure it will take longer than usual.”

Ethan began spraying her hair with the water, using his fingers to massage through its thickness. As he sprayed, Joss pulled out one of the combs. 

“This one. You gotta part my hair in the middle.”

The trusty rattail comb. He started at the hairline at her forehead, using the tail end of the comb. 

“Ouch!”

Ethan immediately raised his hands. “Are you OK?”

“You’re pulling too hard,” Joss whined.

“I’m sorry.” He slowly resumed, but there were some tangles along the way that made Joss fuss. “Hold on, I’m almost there.”

When he reached the end, he critiqued the straightness of the part. He dropped his head and sighed in relief. 

His daughter then pulled out some more items from the basket.

“Mommy uses these next.”

Ethan read the labels of the containers. Leave-in conditioner and gel.

“Which goes first?”

“Um, the white one, I think.” Joss was referring to the conditioner. 

Ethan unscrewed the lid, and scooped some up with two digits. He rubbed the cream between his palms and began applying it to the first half of her hair. 

“How’s that?”

Joss just smiled and gave him a thumbs up in the mirror. 

When he finished conditioning her locks, he picked up the gel. He knew how to use this. He had hoped so anyway. In combination with the gel, Ethan used a bristle brush to brush back her hair to where he could tie it. Joss handed him an elastic hair tie, but he was having difficulty trying to get it around her puff. As he tried to double tie it, the elastic snapped against his fingers.

“Shit!” He shook his hand, as the sharp pain made his fingers throb. 

“Shit, daddy!” She clasped her hands over her mouth.

“No, Jocelyn. Only adults can say that word.” 

Although his tone was strict, Joss just giggled against her hands. Ethan rolled his eyes, but a smirk eventually settled on his lips.

“Let’s try this again, shall we?”

Ethan picked up a new hair tie. As he wrapped it around the second time, he bit the inside corner of his lip, waiting for the incident to repeat. But it didn’t happen. He exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Then it dawned on him. He did it. He made her puff. Now he had to repeat it for the other side of her head. His anxiety began to knot inside him.

After about another 15 minutes, he had finished. He patted the puffs. 

“How do they look?”

Joss began to jump up and down on her stool. “Perfect, daddy! But you gotta pick now.”

“Pick?”

Joss took a pick out from the basket. “Mommy lets me do one and she does the other one.”

“Why don’t you show me?” 

Joss begins to pick her right puff, her hair expanding and becoming a bit more fluffy in texture. Ethan noticed how it really began to enhance her individual curls. 

“Like this, daddy,” she said, while holding the pick up to him.

Ethan repeated the picking on her left puff. He took a seriousness to it, making sure that each puff had similar diameters and heights. He never realized how shapeable this type of hair texture was. He was beginning to recognize a science behind the process. 

“All done.” He kissed the top of her head, the faint coconut scent from the leave-in conditioner lightly lingering in his nostrils. 

“Thank you, daddy!” 

Joss jumped up on him. When she did, the pick he was holding fell to the floor as he caught her. She then kissed his cheek in appreciation. 

“Anything for my favorite girl. Why don’t you help me put these away?”  
  
Ethan set her on the counter, and they both began putting the things back into the basket. Her right puff batted him in the arm on occasion when she turned her head. Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle at his daughter’s oblivious gesture. 

When they were done, Joss ran out the bathroom and down the hall. She opened her parents’ bedroom door. 

“Look, mommy! Daddy did my hair.” She jumped onto the bed and fell on top of Zyra, waking her up. Zyra grunted into her pillow.

Ethan was directly behind Joss and gently pulled his daughter back. She was now just sitting on the bed next to her mother who was trying to open her eyes.

“Let’s not jump on mommy, Joss. She needs her rest right now.”

“It’s OK, Ethan.” 

Zyra caressed her daughter’s cheek, but Ethan noticed how her hand slightly trembled. 

“Your hair looks really good, baby.” Zyra’s smile was weak. “Your daddy is a pro.”

“And guess what, mommy?”

“What?”

“Daddy has a big potty mouth today.”

Zyra’s gaze slowly shifted to her husband. Ethan’s blush creeped across his cheeks.

“Come on, Joss.” He cleared his throat. “Why don’t you go get your bag ready for school?”

“OK.”

Once they were finally alone, Ethan closed the door, leaving it slightly cracked open. He sat on the edge of the bed and took Zyra’s hand in his. It was cold. He could easily feel the bone beneath her skin. As he entwined his fingers with hers, her fingers weakly hung against his. 

“One of your bad days, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“You only have a couple more chemo sessions.”

Zyra just nodded, but he could see the tears glistening in her eyes. He gulped hard to hold back his own need to cry. He then leaned his forehead against hers and tenderly began to whisper.

“You are the strongest person I have ever met. You’re a fighter. And that’s one of the many reasons why I love you so damn much. You’re not going to let something like fucking cancer knock you down.”

He heard Zyra’s laughter bubbling in her throat. 

“You really do have a potty mouth today.”

Ethan kissed her fingers and smiled against them. “See. And this is why I need you around.”

“I’m not going anywhere, are you?”

“Never.” 

They both exchanged a smile, but the smile in their eyes contained a sadness that only they could recognize in each other. 

“I’m going to go drop Joss off and call in today.”  
  
“Ethan--”

“No, Zyra. You know I stay home on your bad days.”

Ethan brought back Joss to give her goodbyes to her mother with a peck on the lips.

“You’re cold, mommy,” Joss commented. Her smile faded a little when she looked at her mother.

“I’ll tell you a secret. Hugs do wonders for the coldness.”

Joss wrapped her arms around her mother and clung to her. With as much strength as she could muster, Zyra squeezed her arms tightly around her daughter’s small frame. She tried to hold on to her daughter as long as possible, but her strength began slipping, her hug loosening. 

“Have a great day today, baby. Tell me everything when you get home.” Her mouth curved in tenderness.

“Why don’t you tuck your mother in before you leave?” Ethan suggested.

Joss pulled the covers up over her mother and then gave her one more kiss.

“Bye, mommy!” She ran out of the room.

Ethan looked back at his wife with a lingering gaze before he left to take their daughter to school. 

Once Ethan returned home, he immediately went to Zyra, who was awake with the TV on.

“What’s this?” Ethan noticed YouTube was up on the TV. He checked Zyra’s pillows, ensuring she was comfortable enough sitting up before taking his spot next to her in bed. His arm draped around her, and he felt her lean back into him.

“I was making you a playlist.”

He saw a new playlist on the side titled _Hair Guides for Ethan_. He smirked and shook his head.

“I didn’t realize how much went into our daughter’s hair. Yours, too.”

“Well, we can just wrap her edges tonight in a scarf, so you don’t have to repeat it all tomorrow.”

As they continued talking, he felt her body go limp against him. Suddenly, a wave of apprehension swept through him as his mind quickly went to that one disturbing thought. But he saw her chest rising and falling and felt her breath tickle against his skin when he held his fingers close to her nose. He closed his eyes, his heart aching with pain, his eyes burning with tears. 

She’ll be OK. He reassured himself. This is the challenging part.

He scrolled through the playlist to help ease his mind away from the fear. There were videos of common hairstyles, common terminology and products, and tutorials with dad’s that looked like him. He clicked on one, turned the volume down a bit, and began to watch. When it came to his daughter’s hair, there was quite a learning curve, but he was ready to learn because he had to be prepared for any outcome.

  
  



End file.
